A masquerade murder mystery for 6 to 14 guests
Give your friends a mask and a murder to solve.
Every guest gets a character, a secret and lines to say, on their own phone.
Plays on phones · printable too
$59
One price for the whole table.
Get the mystery · $59Play it on phones and a tablet, or on printed paper.
Yours the moment you pay.
Add a second mystery Two evenings for $99. You save $19.
A question first? Write to support@murderbeforedessert.com.
Never played one?
1Before the party
Send each friend their character and a costume idea.
2Over dinner
Your phone hands you lines to say and questions to ask. Fresh clues land each round.
3Before dessert
Accuse your suspect in secret. Then the culprit stands up and reads the confession.
The suspects
Bring 6 to 14 friends. Everyone gets a character.
The critic
“I do not make enemies. I simply describe people accurately.”
What they are hidingYour notebook is shut tonight. What you came for is not on the program.
The stage manager
“Nothing moves on my stage unless I say so.”
What they are hidingNothing moves on your stage unless you say so. Tonight something did.
The prima donna
“I have died on that stage four hundred times, darling. Always beautifully.”
What they are hidingYou have never left a room quietly. Tonight there is one exit you wish you could take back.
The patron
“I do not give money to the opera, dear. I lend it. There is a difference.”
What they are hidingEveryone here owes you a kindness. Tonight you would rather nobody looked at you too closely.
The music director
“Give me the downbeat and I can make two hundred people do anything.”
What they are hidingTwo hundred people follow your every gesture. Tonight you would rather they looked away.
The niece
“Uncle Leopold counts the applause. Somebody has to count the money.”
What they are hidingYou count everything in this house. Tonight you are keeping one thing off the books.
Fourteen people with something to hide.
Prefer paper?
Booklets, evidence and a sealed ending, to print at home or at a print shop. Choose phones or paper after you buy.
Tap a page to read it.
Download these 6 sample pages (PDF)
About an hour and a half to get ready: for six guests, printing included. Black-and-white files and a print-shop file are included.
Single-sided sheets, including all packet covers:
| Guests | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheets | 83 | 89 | 94 | 100 | 105 | 111 | 116 | 122 | 127 |
Have 4 envelopes: ROUND 1, ROUND 2, ROUND 3, the Unmasking Box.
Questions
No. Every guest's phone gives them complete lines to read aloud in each round, and questions to ask, so even a shy guest always has something ready.
It is much more fun if they do, and any mask works. Each character has a named mask, and a paper name card does the job if someone forgets theirs.
Yes. The solution is sealed, and the host reads the Inspector's words from the host page without knowing where they lead.
Six characters carry the story and the other eight can be dropped one by one. If one of the six cancels, the host reads that character's witness statement aloud and the evening still works.
About two hours of play, three with dinner. It is written to be played between courses.
It is set on New Year's Eve 1926, and it suits any masquerade, Mardi Gras or birthday party where people like to dress up.
Yes. It is written for adults and plays well with teens: the one death happens off stage, and nothing graphic is shown or described.
With new guests, yes. The murderer is the same each time, so not with the same group.
Any number from 6 to 14. Every guest plays a character of their own, with lines to read aloud in every round, and the price is the same for a table of 6 or of 14.
No. The whole evening plays on your guests' phones, and you run it from a tablet or your own phone. Prefer paper? The complete printable kit is included.
A phone for every guest and an internet connection at the table. Each guest opens their own link in the phone's browser. A tablet is handy for the host; a phone does the job too.
Your private host page opens at once, and we email you the link. Add your guests there and send each one their character. On the night you run the evening from that page. Keep the link; it is your key.
No. Nothing ships. It plays on your phones, and the printable kit is a download: print it at home, or send the single print file to a print shop.
No. Anyone can play any character. Half the fun is who ends up as whom.
Yes. Buy it, then forward the private host page link to the person who will host.
More evenings
Free sample
6 real pages from Midnight at the Masquerade, as a PDF in your inbox.
